University of Oregon new coach

How much of your training relied on D2, and can bethoma replicate his success in Oregon without it

For tea curtain

How is your training different now than it was at va tech? What does Ben do differently than most coaches?

Joop wrote:

How much of your training relied on D2, and can bethoma replicate his success in Oregon without it

It can't be replicated with out that sweet, sweet D2 breakfast. Joop

For tea curtain wrote:

For tea curtain

How is your training different now than it was at va tech? What does Ben do differently than most coaches?

There's no "a" in my last name ?.

Mileage is now consistently higher under Tim Broe. I got up to 85 or so in college, but it would fluctuate a lot down to 65 in track. Easy runs are faster, workouts are the same sort of paces but more rest. I think what Coach Thomas does differently than most is focus on recovery outside of running. That's stressed more so than the running even. The running is obviously integral, but you need to recover as fast as possible. Sleep, nutrition, hydration.

Hey, I take offense to this! Tommy is the poor man’s Mulherin.

My apologies to you, consider me schooled

It takes time to build a program. Ben Thomas had success at VT very early, but it was sporadic. Now it has become consistent. That is a product of both better recruiting (success gets recruits) and refining a system of training. Ben is a student of the sport and also a good motivator.

Those who say VT is only 800/1500 are not looking deeper. Mulherin was 5th in the NCAA 5000 and XC All American. Curtin even better at 2nd / 4th NCAA 5000, beat Cheserek in XC and probably should have been top 10 XC if not for a foot injury. Neither was a blue chip recruit. Fanning was 3rd in NCAA XC. Those are a few of the standouts, but I believe a few VT guys have run ~8:40s in the steeple, lots of low 14 runners, consistently solid women's teams/runners. They don't have Oregon depth and consistent national class recruits. Success still takes talent and Oregon gets more of that due to program history. Ben has done a lot with the talent that came to VT. One thing that stands out is his ability to develop good kickers.

I wish him good luck at Oregon and suspect he will do well.

Meh, not fired up wrote:

He can coach the mid D 8/15. No doubt about that, however no better or worse than Powell. In fact, Powell has more success. The problem, and Oregon is going to find out very quickly, is Thomas is not a strong distance coach (5/10/Steeple, XC), and that matters in Eugene. What’s Thomas’ best finish in XC?

What year did Powell take over as head man? What was Powell's best finish in xc? You realize if it wasn't for Cheserek, people wouldn't even realize Oregon had an xc team the last 10 years.

Since finishing 2nd in 2009, Oregon has finished 6th, did not qualify, 20th, 5th, 6th, 4th, 9th and 6th. What year did Powell take over as head man?

I've always said having the individual champ covers up for a lot. I should know as one year my team got last at Heps with the individual champ but I bet i left that happier than all the coaches save for the winning coach.

If you are good coach and understand the sport, you can coach all event groups. I do see some coaches that don't understand running but they have a system that they repeat over and over adn thus they get away with success in one or two event groups.

I had way more success initially at Cornell in the mid-d events and yet when I got hired people on this board were saying I'd be a terrible mid-d coach as I was a marathoner. THe mid-d guys were just way more talented. Then we had a run of great 10k/5k types.

All of that being said, in terms of xc, from what I can tell Virginia Tech was 22nd in 2012, 27th in 2015, and 20th this year.

I know 2 of the 4 coaches that turned the job down. Knowing Ben, I'm not surprised he is joining this disaster. He is controlling, ego-centric and it will not last with him, Salazar, Treasure and Johnson. Think about this for a minute, why were those 2 in the interview process?!

Salazar does write the workouts, anyone mildly around that circle knows this, it is very odd.

"Thomas did little at V Tech for a decade and then has had a lot of success over the last 2-3 years.

To get the Oregon job, Thomas had to interview with Salazar and Darren Treasure, as well as Johnson of course. Johnson instructed Thomas that Salazar would play a role in writing workouts, as he did with Powell.

Thomas accepted.

That's why 4 other big name NCAA coaches turned it down. The salary (200k+) tempted everyone, but Thomas was the one to finally say yes. Whether Thomas is a good coach or not, it's interesting to see him being the one to accept the position.

Welcome to the dark side, Ben.[/quote]

Salazar does not write workouts for Oregon. This is just not true at all and never has been.[/quote]

teacurtin,

If you don't mind me asking, what made you choose VT for college? What other schools were you considering, and how big of a role did Coach Thomas play in you deciding to go to Blacksburg? (It certainly seems to me that you made an excellent choice).

Salazar does not write workouts for Oregon. This is just not true at all and never has been.[/quote][/quote]

Since you have the gall to slander a well-respected man behind the safety of your keyboard, don't you also have the gall to tell us who those two guys who you know turned the job down are?

teacurtin wrote:

For tea curtain wrote:

For tea curtain

How is your training different now than it was at va tech? What does Ben do differently than most coaches?

There's no "a" in my last name ?.

Mileage is now consistently higher under Tim Broe. I got up to 85 or so in college, but it would fluctuate a lot down to 65 in track. Easy runs are faster, workouts are the same sort of paces but more rest. I think what Coach Thomas does differently than most is focus on recovery outside of running. That's stressed more so than the running even. The running is obviously integral, but you need to recover as fast as possible. Sleep, nutrition, hydration.

Did Ben place a bigger emphasis on interval workouts or on long tempos/farleks?

Where do you come up with this stuff??? I don’t know how many coaches were interviewed or turned down but I can guarantee Alberto does not write workouts for the UO. Total BS. Hate him all you want but you don’t need to spread lies like this that are so easily debunked.

duck forever wrote:

teacurtin wrote:Mileage is now consistently higher under Tim Broe. I got up to 85 or so in college, but it would fluctuate a lot down to 65 in track. Easy runs are faster, workouts are the same sort of paces but more rest. I think what Coach Thomas does differently than most is focus on recovery outside of running. That's stressed more so than the running even. The running is obviously integral, but you need to recover as fast as possible. Sleep, nutrition, hydration.

Did Ben place a bigger emphasis on interval workouts or on long tempos/farleks?

Dellinger tailored training to 800/1500 , 1500/5000 and 5000/10,000/XC types of runners.

Powell's seemed not to figure out the latter group. You cannot train every runner as a mid distance runner.

The Starved Elephant wrote:

Salazar does not write workouts for Oregon. This is just not true at all and never has been.

[/quote]

[/quote]

I consider myself informed about the program and I haven't heard anything about Salazar writing workouts for Oregon, other than what he did for Rupp years ago. Salazar is a great coach, Oregon should ask him for advice!

BUMP

NN2000 wrote:

I heard a rumor that apparently Ben Thomas from VT is going Oregon

Wrong!

Wejo, is the New Oregon coach. Going to start the NEW Nike Oregon Project!